Mobile phone rant

[graysalchemy]

I have a business contract with Vodafone through an independent retailer. Now I used to always have a crapberry which I am sick of. Any way 2 yrs ago I put my wife on a company phone, but she wanted a samsung galaxy, unfortunately our independent retailer said that unless I wanted to pay £300 for it I couldn't have one on her £25 a month contract so she ended up with a touch screen crapberry. Anyway 2 yrs on her contract is up for renewal and mine is up in August.

My Crapberry has now developed a cracked screen where the buttons are which is causing a problem and my phone guy tried to sell me a 'new' hauwei 8860 for £100 as I can't get an upgrade until august.

So I thought I don't want to be with these guys anymore and rang Vodaphone Only to get put through to them again

So I rang carphone warehouse business dept explaining that I had 2 phones same account different contract dates and that I wanted to stay with Vodafone but get the two contracts running at the same time. No can do. However I could change to O2 (which would be dearer than the current vodafone deal) but have to wait until my contract was nearly up before taking mine over.

Basically Vodafone and my retailer have me over a barrel with out of sync contracts.

Not happy.

And to make matters worse I was never originally a customer of this retailers, my original supplier sold my account.

Not happy.

All I want is a decent phone that doesn't cost me the earth and my two contracts to run to the same date. :evil: :evil:

But its not going to happen is it.

:evil: :evil: :evil:

 

[RobWalker]

Try phones4u - go in and explain, they're great at buying you out of contracts and repairing stuff without quibbling. Anyway, you are ripping yourself off with contracts. If you can get a phone on a 0% credit card, buya new phone on that and get a high use contract with giffgaff. Insure it via your bank account or protectyourbubble, and you stand to save about 200-300 quid over 2 years and you won't be locked down. Phone contracts are no better than payday loans imo :/

Also, I've been on Vodafone. They're absolutely useless, no desire to help until they want to sell you something. Using the above method I felt great satisfaction watching the sales advisors pitch crumble to pieces

 

[Jeltz]

I'm with EE (originally was T-Mobile) business and to be honest I have been very impressed by their customer service. Wife and kids are with them as personal and that is pretty poor but for business they have been very good. I went direct to them to get the phone and have been with them for 3 years now, so one upgrade and another due in October.

You may well find that Mrs can get a new contract cheaper by shopping around (still on your business if you want), if that's the case then you take her old phone until your contract is up then tell VF to go away and do something anatomically tricky.

Obviously that doesn't sort the out of sync thing.

 

[Titus A Duxass]

Can you not replace the screen on the crapberry?

I've done it three times on my wife's SG3.

 

[graysalchemy]

I probably can.

 

[krazypara3165]

I used to work for Vodafone and one of the issues they had when I worked there was the cost of dealing with the aftersales of third parties (there are many but the big two were carphone and phones4u) I think the major issue was is that they sold contracts cheaper than Vodafone did and when something goes wrong they try to pass the customer onto Vodafone so they avoid the bill. It appears Vodafone are trying to put their foot down.

is the cracked screen due to accidental damage? if not they are legally required to at the very least repair it.

 

[graysalchemy]

It appears to be stress fractures as they are next to two of the navigation buttons.

I think I am going to tell my 3rd party provider what I want as I have seen what I want at the right price on the Vodafone website. If he doesn't play ball I will go to another network and get what i want.

 

[krazypara3165]

Then technically you should be able to get them to at least repair it. however if your after a new shiny phone threatening to take your business elsewhere almost always works. Some of the deals ive seen our retention teams offer have been unbelievable just to retain someone business.

Oh the only exception to deals for most providers is Iphones..... Apple has a hard grasp of the mobile world and for some reason is the only manufacturer that stipulates the price of contracts with their products.

 

[graysalchemy]

Not bothered with an Iphone.

Thanks for the advice. I will go and see him next week and tell him. :grin: :grin:

 

[Robbo]

My wife had a lot of problems with Vodaphone's billing team. Every month her bill was different to the month before even though she never wandered outside of her tariff or call package.

I personally don't own a mobile phone as I prefer to be able to have an Errol Brown in peace.

 

[Tim84]

No mobile phone? Impressive! Couldn't survive more than a couple of hours without mine at evenings and weekends, and a couple of minutes during the day when working! You must be in a minority (which is good as I work for an MNO too so I don't want too many of you without mobiles or I'll be out of a job!)

 

[adomant]

Car phone warehouse are by far the most disgusting example of a service provider, bordering on criminal extorsion - whoever you chose won't be half as bad. Having been turned over by them royally and having used several companies since I found EE to be more reasonable and great coverage. Vodafone is only interested in big corporate deals and can't match ee for coverage or service IMO

 

[Tim84]

I found EE to be more reasonable and great coverage. Vodafone is only interested in big corporate deals and can't match ee for coverage or service IMO

That's what I like to hear, mobile phone users, on EE and happy!

 

[krazypara3165]

I think coverage wise Vodafone cannot be beaten (all our work mobs are Vodafone for that reason) however reliability wise and for the price ee is cracking! Im on them now

 

[joe1002]

I think coverage wise Vodafone cannot be beaten (all our work mobs are Vodafone for that reason) however reliability wise and for the price ee is cracking! Im on them now

Really? Our work BB's have been moved from o2 to nodafone and there is a very noticeable reduction in signal, especially 3G.

 

[krazypara3165]

I think coverage wise Vodafone cannot be beaten (all our work mobs are Vodafone for that reason) however reliability wise and for the price ee is cracking! Im on them now

Really? Our work BB's have been moved from o2 to nodafone and there is a very noticeable reduction in signal, especially 3G.

Indeed. basically vodafone built the mobile infrastructure in the UK and to my knowledge has always had the most coverage across the UK. Its also won an auction for the highest amount of spectrum for 4G so eventually will have better coverage than EE.

Signals vary dependant on a hell of a lot of issues, my signal in my work is horrific (even though we have a vodafone mast on the top of work) it could be down the the industrial equipment affecting the signal but Im no engineer...

For the record I am not a Vodafone "fan boy" (Im on EE as I prefer the service) thats just the knowledge i picked up whilst working for them.

 

[TRXnMe]

O2 offer the best coverage, in my experience, and it's due to 'smarter' locations of masts back when BT owned them
Sadly they do charge for the service (I'm paying for it, having had sh1 service from 3 and Vodaphone)

Vodaphone are good for coverage, but marginally worse than O2, and their customer service stinks IME.

EE are making a move for the front runner with lots of new masts erected (narf narf) in the last year (I know a guy who set up lots of them), sadly their customer service is the old Orange setup, 'Hello my name is Fred" in an asian accent, and a hang up if you are even mildly peed off

I put my money into O2, they cost more, but the phone help has english as a first language and they understand that they are HELP and do a good job.

If you want synchronised accounts let the older account run on until the younger account is ready for renewal and do both together.

Does your missus need a new phone, of would a sim only contract do her? Do you need a NEW phone, or would a second hand crapberry off the bay do you with a cheap to use sim shoved up it?

No good reason to buy a 12/24/36 month contract now unless you NEED the latest gadget phone on the meekat

 

[Squiffy]

Tesco mobile use 02 and I found were reasonably priced with excellent service and good coverage
. I made the mistake of moving to vodaphone and can get no coverage at work.. I can't wait to get to the end of this contract and swap back.

 

[Pakman]

TRXnMe wrote "O2 offer the best coverage, in my experience, and it's due to 'smarter' locations of masts back when BT owned them "

An interesting quote as both O2 and Skodafone now share main base station sites through a joint independent company they set up called Cornerstone. This happened after the attempted Skoda/Orange sharing agreement fell at the first fence.

Graham

 

[TRXnMe]

TRXnMe wrote "O2 offer the best coverage, in my experience, and it's due to 'smarter' locations of masts back when BT owned them "

An interesting quote as both O2 and Skodafone now share main base station sites through a joint independent company they set up called Cornerstone. This happened after the attempted Skoda/Orange sharing agreement fell at the first fence.

Graham

When was that? I studied the techniques used to identify the base station locations for the big guys when I did my MSc a few years ago. Other than having 'a few drinks' with one of the guys near the top of the EE network project I've not paid much attention to the networks....

I will stand by my experience that O2 offer better coverage than vodaphone though, even now. I have a company phone on vodaphone, and my personal mobile on O2, I end up using my own phone to make calls far too often, swapping sim doesn't work either I'm mainly out and about around Wales, or Northerrn Ireland, only occasional trips towards into That London if that explains anything?